Memento Mori
by Mysterious Stranger Terian
Summary: [Persona 3 Aftermath!Teaser!Prologue!Spoilers!Within] Prologue: January 29th, 2011: A Chance encounter at midnight grocery store [Aegis Centric]


Kazuki hated the night shift

There were a lot of reasons behind this, aside from the whole higher probability that you're going to run into one of the crazies lying around in the middle of the city, the ones that tend to come out in the middle of the night when all the people with a semblance of sanity have done the intelligent thing and gotten in their beds to get some rest, well up and prepared for the next day, wherein the eternal grind of history continued to crush everything underneath it with it's usual typical disdain for morality, fairness, or even providing some sort of pattern that could tell you what to expect.

Case in point, the fact that despite his best efforts otherwise, this was his fifth night in a row where he had drawn the bloody short straw. To be perfectly honest, he was half sure that he had done something to get on Miyako-san's bad side, maybe it was having to cut out of last week's shift an hour early in the interests of having a brain left by the time the next day's test came along. Couldn't be helped though, and it wasn't all bad, the seclusion did give enough time for contemplation, a bit of studying here and there, and occasionally company who's more along the lines of interesting as opposed to just damn creepy. Granted, this was more along the lines of a occasional silver lining on the remarkably dark clouds, but one has to take good things as they come if they want to retain some semblance of sanity after all.

The bells rung as the door opened, Kazuki's eyes flicking up from the textbook he was leafing through at the time, the hefty book concealing the slight grin that came on his face.

Lucky day it seemed.

"Evening Gaijin-san" He said, perfectly professional-like as the blonde haired young lady stepped into the store, a picture of perfect poise coming in from the chilly winter weather outside. A rare picture of demurity in a world that was slipping further and further into all the eligible women seeming to decide that the only way they'd ever manage to attract any proper male attention is through exposing themselves to a degree that bordered on the scandalous. What depressed Kazuki moreso was that such efforts did seem to succeed in attracting many of what would be deemed his 'peers'.

Was it really so wrong to be a bit of an old soul in that sense?

Apparently so, couldn't be helped though, it's a shame she's already taken, or he might have taken the rather rare opportunity to make a futile attempt at acquiring something vaguely resembling a nice girl.

He never quite got though how she could always hear him perfectly through those fancy earphones though, as Gaijin-san turned to address him with a slight, ever so infinitesimal bow of her head, basket carried in hand as she began going through the inventory of the small corner store, picking up a few vegetables, gliding across the aisle to get ahold of some of the canned goods... The usual emergency affairs for a late night shopping run though.

Kind of odd though, how nobody else seemed to ever be around when she was doing her shopping, maybe some day job that takes a good portion of her efforts, only leaving the occasional night shift here and there. Given how infrequently that even Kazuki sees her showing up, he'd almost excuse the other clerks that work around here as just not really caring enough to pay attention to every little eccentric that showed up in the middle of the night.

Gaijin-san apparently managed to find the last little bits of what she was looking for,  
the basket having filled up in the sort of professional hurry the night crowd tended towards,  
and brought it up forward, the basket leaving a quiet 'Thud' noise after being hoisted up onto the counter.

So, Kazuki did his job, removing the goods from the basket long enough to process them through the system, the total on the register building up with each progressive item added in.

"So, how's HE doing?" Kazuki asked. One thing those bloody corporate suits in the big multinational organizations did have right, was that conversation was always one of the best ways to get a customer coming back, so long as you didn't wind up stepping on a particular soft spot. Still, in the couple times Gaijin-san's been around, the short conversations have always been enough to get a rough idea of what sort of things she didn't care to talk about.

She sighed lightly. "The same as always I am afraid" Her almost eeriely formal voice rang out. Despite the slight hint of melancholy that seemed to follow her around most of the time though, it had the sort of feel of an old injury, one that she had more or less come to terms with by this time, though not one that had lightened over... However long she's been caring for HIM.

"Well... I'm sure he'll get better eventually" Kazuki said after an awkward moment of silence,  
trying to come up with some alternate line of conversation, perhaps something that might actually go somewhere further then the slow petering out of conversation that these talks wound down to in a hurry. He checked out a few more items, as the Girl gave a weak little smile.

"I had thought much the same in the past..." She agreed, though her almost unnaturally bright blue eyes were clouded over in some long forgotten memory. "However... The day that HE wakes... Will be the very last day in our own lives."

Kazuki was... Well, stunned at that, actually pausing in his own work at just how far out of center-field that final part of the response had been. He must have been staring, as the Girl bowed her head slightly more at that. "...So regardless of my own feelings in the matter.  
all that I can do is protect him, and ensure that he never does wake."

Needless to say, this was a bit deeper then one would have expected from a night-shift chat.

"... well... I don't really understand..." He admitted, ringing in the order, and accepting the money, already perfectly divided up into exact change, and dropped them into the appropriate receptacles of the register. He was at a loss for words of what to add, his body moving automatically through the motions of handing the recipt over, bowing as she started to leave the store, the traditional thank-you on his lips, before he halted again.

"Hold up" He added, raising up a hand as Gaijin-san came to a pause, glancing back at him.

"Ah... You've been here a few times in the last few weeks... I'd guess that counts as a regular at this point, and I don't even know your name." Kazuki began, trailing off again, mentally kicking himself for being so forward. No doubt she'd walk right out the door at this point,  
never to be seen again.

"... It's Aegis" She politely said back, head facing forward again, as she left the store, silence once again coming over the small building.

Kazuki stood like a fool for a moment after this, sighed, then sat back down on his stool,  
picking up his textbook, but not quite beginning to read it yet.

"... Maybe... The night shift isn't so bad after all." 


End file.
